Interview Question: Give me an example of a time you did something wrong. How did you handle it?

You may be spooked by this question if you don’t make necessary preparations beforehand. Don’t let your nerves take over. Here’s how to answer the question professionally.

If you want to ace this question, you can’t be afraid to acknowledge past errors. Knowing how to recognize your own mistakes and being able to learn something from them are important qualities as an employee.

Because failures provide us the greatest lessons, they offer a chance to mature, grow and develop self-awareness.

Some tips on how to answer this interview question:

Acknowledge that you made a mistake. This is the first step you have to take in order to let your image shine. Admitting your failures is a good quality. Chalking up mistakes as lessons learned and moving on can open up better opportunities in the future. If your humility is genuine, you can expect a potential employer to think well of you.

Be specific. Expect the recruiter to ask about specific situations where there were significant consequences. Feel free to explain to help the recruiter understand the situation you faced.

Describe the situation and how you took it into your own hands. Point out the lesson you learned and how you would turn back time if you could and handle things from a different perspective.

Keep your answer simple. State the key points describing how you would approach the situation differently.

Be positive. The feeling of failure can’t be called “good”, unless you see failure as a step toward success. In terms of career, sometimes mistakes happen simply because we’re in an environment that isn’t really a good fit.

The good news is that it’s possible to find something new and better. You can try different career paths to find work that best suits you.

These tips can help you approach this question from a different perspective. As you continue in your working life, let yourself grow and mature to become a better employee and an asset to the companies you work for.

Alan is the creator of Interview Success Formula, a training program that has helped more than 40,000 job seekers to ace their interviews and land the jobs they deserve. Interviewers love asking curveball questions to weed out job seekers. But the truth is, most of these questions are asking about a few key areas. Learn more about how to outsmart tough interviewers by watching this video.